This paper presents a preliminary model of health investments over the life cycle. Health affects both longevity and provides flow utility. We analyze the interplay between consumption choices and investments in health by solving each household's dynamic optimization problem to obtain...

Households acquire wealth from two sources: they save out of income they have earned, and they receive transfers from other people. The first method of wealth accumulation goes under the name of life-cycle saving, in which people save during their working lives and dissave after retirement; the...

This paper examines the degree to which Americans are saving optimally for retirement. Our standard for assessing optimality comes from a life-cycle model that incorporates uncertain lifetimes, uninsurable earnings and medical expenses, progressive taxation, government transfers, and pension and...